# In 1979, Pink Floyd sold over 4,000,000 copies of their best-selling song. David Gilmour will always regret one lyric

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1979-pink-floyd-sold-over-4000000-copies-of-their-best-selling-song-david-gilmour-will-always-regret-one-lyric/
- Published: 2026-10-24T16:28:25+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-24T17:52:33+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/pink-floyd-best-selling-song-david-gilmour-will-always-regret/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Pink Floyd’s 1979 hit was widely misread as opposing education.
- Roger Waters framed it as rebellion against controlling authority.
- David Gilmour later questioned the decision to release it as a single.

## Summary

Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” became a major hit in 1979, but its chorus was controversially interpreted as a call to end children’s education. The song was intended as a protest against controlling authority, and the reaction showed how its message could be misunderstood.

Roger Waters wrote the track, drawing on his experience of a strict boys’ grammar school, and children from Islington Green School sang on it. The school’s music head, Alun Renshaw, involved pupils without first seeking the headteacher’s permission; the head later acknowledged the recording as part of a rich musical education. David Gilmour later said he regretted releasing the song as a single because of its contentious lyric.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.